Friday, March 13, 2009

How I Like Music and Remember People at the Same Time

As I listened to the Elliott Smith song "Everything Means Nothing to Me" (the best possible title of the song that follows "Everything Reminds Me of Her") I was reminded of why he's one of my favorite artists. I love the way his voice loops back over itself and the whole feel of the song, but most of all it reminds me of the first Elliott Smith song I ever heard, which was his cover of the Beatles' "Because" from the American Beauty soundtrack. And the reason I love that song is just because a friend of mine told me she loved it. I'd never heard of Elliott Smith before but it was a great song, and since a friend loved it, I loved it too. Then I remember hearing about when he died back in 2003, listening to that song again, and then buying more of his stuff and completely falling in love with his music.

A song takes on special significance for me when it's a friend's favorite. It's just contagious. I used to think I was unoriginal because of that, but I've decided it's my way of remembering people, since I'm pretty terrible at the normal, not-connecting-them-to-a-song way.

And no, this post has no real point, except that you really should just put on some nice headphones and drift away to Elliott's feather-pillow voice sing a classic from Abbey Road: